Episode 6 "Return Home"

2 Hours Left:

"We have defenses being set up all around the place, we have a big advantage, this place is small, and sturdy. On top of the fact that we can let the herd go right through the middle." Dex looked at everyone as he and Riley with the help of Jack put a plan together with everyone gathered around the center. "We use the van here to distract them, one of us will have to drive it to the Compound where the explosives will go off after the driver ditches the van, big ass explosions, and the herd will die off, we are lucky the Compound has explosives left over from before. Mia and a few others are setting them up as we speak." Sarah sat beside Kate as she looked around at everyone, she saw the fear in their eyes, it was the same fear the Compound survivors had after the fight, Sarah looked at Kate and handed her one of Will's comics as she stood up to join the others in front of everyone, she heard them all whispering to each other, the doubt they had.

"Look, I know you're all really scared right now and want revenge but trust me that'll get us nowhere… For now we need to go, get as prepared as possible, rest, mourn and then after that we take the fight to them, but we need just a little faith, this will work, we have done this enough to know what not to do, we will fortify the walls leading them through and take the high ground... Look, we all lost something recently but trust me, it'll all be worth something, the ones who died wont have died for nothing, if we are to do this, then we'll do it right, I'll be damned if I allow myself to lose another person. They may have the numbers, but we got each other, trust me, if we play our cards right, then we'll get them."

Dex turned to Sarah with a big smile and said, "I think you would make a great leader here." Sarah looked at him and saw she convinced an entire community and said to Dex, "I'm just doing what's right, I learned that from you…" Dex smiled as he looked at everyone, "let's do this!" Everyone was a little more hopeful as they all got up and got to work on fixing the place up.

Half an Hour Later:

"The walls they have been putting up for about thirty minutes now look decent so far, almost as if they will actually hold. I think what was said earlier really might be true, we've learned from past mistakes, and will use them to our advantage here. I don't know if anyone will die from this but I'm going to have to do my best to make sure nobody does. It feels so unreal, I lost my parents, my unborn sister, and… Will… It hurts everyday, all I have left is these people and this baby. Maybe after all of this we may end up going somewhere out there alone, away from all danger to live out our days just like we planned that night at the police station… Dex, Mandy, Luis, Abigail, and Faith… we're counting on you."

Kate ran around with Coco playing as Dex and Mandy were lifting wall panels and other items up to finish the first half of the walls. Luis, Abigail, and Faith were working on making sure it's all safe. Kate was trying hard to avoid everyone while they worked, as she ran she came across Dex's bag with Mel's journal sticking out of it, she glanced at Dex as she pulled it out. She couldn't read but she saw drawing's in there, some looked like Dex, there were other people, she was interested in what she saw, she dug through some more, eventually seeing a picture. She picked it up and saw Dex and Mel in it, she stared at it for a while and put it down as Dex walked up, "what are you doing?" Kate looked up and apologized for getting into his bag, Dex kneeled and smiled as he handed her Mel's notebook, "Mel and Sarah have this thing where they have to document things in some way, Mel never got to finish doing that, I want you to finish it, maybe someday I'll teach you to read and write… We are about to begin the final row of walls, I need you to take Coco back inside for me, we have an hour and a half left, maybe less." Kate nodded as she called Coco over, they ran to the building they were all staying at as the small group got together in a circle.

"Okay so we just got to get this final stretch done and then we should be good, the outside traps are done, they should just go through the middle, what will we do if it fails? We can't just run, we will all die." Dex noted what Abigail said as he thought for a bit, Luis looked at Dex and said, "we got this dude, I mean shit remember all the shit we got into back in the day?" Dex smiled as the memories flooded in, "it won't fail, I won't let it." Faith began to walk to the panels and other support items and turned to them, "then lets not wait any longer we don't have time, fire the flare to signal them."

The group split up and was working extra hard to get the walls up to keep the herd going through the place to the Compound. They spent the next half hour fixing up the defenses with hopes that it will be just enough to protect them. Hoping that nobody will have to die…

One Hour Left

"Mia, Jack, and Riley have been out for about an hour now, they have been tracking this herd, making sure they are on course. I don't know what to do it seems like what we are doing isn't enough. Sometimes I wonder why we bothered returning here after those years. Why didn't we stay at Gate City, or Texas, or even the Colony. I guess this place is home for many of the people here. The fact that they won't give up on their home gives me hope but it seems like there isn't enough hope for the future to go around at the moment. I hope that they are okay out there and make it back okay, we need this to work, and we need them alive…"

Jack looked at the herd from the top of a hill, they were getting closer and closer by the second. Mia and Riley were working hard to slow them down enough to buy the others a bit more time. Jack held his radio in one hand, he was slowly scanning the trees. Down below Mia and Riley backed away as a flare went up into the sky, "They are almost done, we gotta stop slowing the herd and get back before it's too late." Riley looked at Mia and then Jack and waved at him, he began going down the hill and eventually stopped in front of them and nodded, "let's put an end to this shall we?" they walked down the street, leading the herd away slowly, Riley began walking backwards to see where the herd is at that exact moment, the cold, empty eyes looking back at her spooked her, there were so many walkers, they were a little worried that everything could possibly go wrong. They ignored that fact as they pushed on, Jack looked at the prison as they passed it up, "can't believe you made it out of that Ri." Riley looked at it as memories of a darker time came back, "Woodbury was the last place I saw The Governor as himself, it seemed like the prison was going to be it for us, the place where we could thrive, but that fell."

Jack looked at all the nature growing slowly on the remains as they kept walking, Mia looked at Riley and said, "what happened to the others there?" Riley took a deep breath and got it together and continued, "The Governor and his people are dead, maybe a few survived, but the people that I was with for a bit, most are alive, up in Virginia, at a place called Alexandria, and some other communities too, The Caravan traded with them for a while, it seems like most are dead though, crazy how much things change." Jack looked ahead as the herd was catching up, they ignored everything they saw as they picked up the pace. They would be walking for another hour before finally arriving.

Now:

"We only have ten minutes, the defenses are set and ready, Jack, Mia, and Riley just made it back, the herd is not far. We can almost hear them, the whispers of the dead. I wish that ex Whisperer Christopher had stayed a little bit longer, maybe he could lead the dead away, he said he was going to keep a low profile connection with his group if he finds them, god… I hope he's doing better than us right now, everybody is either crying, praying or waiting for their end, it's a scary situation, it won't get any better… Not yet at least."

Sarah put her journal down and took a deep breath as she walked away from the window, she saw Kate, Coco playing with some of the other children. She saw Marcus, and Noah talking in the corner, Tom and Lamar were trying to keep morale up, she saw every other person in a dark place, she didn't know what to do. Alex stopped beside her and said, "this'll work." Sarah looked at everyone and said to Alex, "we've lost so much, I'm not sure we'll have anything left to lose soon enough." Alex looked at her and looked out the window to see the herd down the street, fear was all anyone knew at that moment, "look I had nothing left to lose for the longest time, I lost it all until I finally allowed myself to have hope again, I found people and now I have reasons to go on now. You just gotta…" before she could continue the sound of the herd full of a thousand walkers smacked into the wall, they all rushed to the windows of the house and watched as it happened.

Just outside Dex, Mandy, Jack were keeping the wall in place, it was hard to see in the dark but they wanted to use that to their advantage. Dex looked at Jack and Mandy said calmly, "it's time." Jack walked up and looked at Dex and said, "don't die out there, make it home in one piece okay?" Mandy looked at him and smiled, "I just met you but you seem like one of the good guys, that's rare these days, whatever you do, don't die." Dex walked away and took a deep breath, he got the radio in one hand as he walked up to the van, as he climbed in and went to start it. Once it started he looked at Jack and nodded, Jack ran up and started the loud music, this got the walkers attention as they were set on following the lit up, loud van. Dex slowly hit the gas as the van began to roll down the street. Sarah watched as she left the house, she ran up to Jack and said, "is it holding?" before Jack could respond he saw the button that would blow the Compound up entirely on the side of the wall. Jack kneeled down and began to shake, he realized the plan may not work out. Sarah kneeled down and looked she was shocked, she looked up to see there was nothing they could do, Jack pulled his radio out, barely holding on because of how scared he was and turned it on.

Down the road Dex was slowly driving when he heard the radio go off, he hit it a couple times and realized the stuff they attached to the van interfered with the signal. Dex put the radio away and kept driving, he was going for a while, the herd just kept following. Eventually minutes later the herd was out of Wilmington, that's when Mia, Jack, and Sarah got on horses and began to speed off to get there before things go bad, "the button is broke, some walkers must have destroyed it." Sarah was really worried as she sped up, so did the others, they were flying past the herd before it could notice them. Meanwhile Dex was arriving at The Compound, once through he parked the van and realized quickly he dropped the detonator. He looked at the herd getting close and said to himself, "gotta keep fighting until your time arrives… Well it seems like my time has just arrived… I can't go back not after all we've been through, not now…" Dex turned around and entered the Compound, he knew the explosives were connected so all he had to do was find the main wire. Dex followed it for a while through the courtyard until he stopped in front of the old science building. Dex looked at it and thought it was funny how everything led him back to that place.

Dex entered and climbed up the stairs where he found the wire, he had to be there the whole time to connect the right ones, he knew that once they were connected and lit he would only have a short time before it blows, not enough to escape but he didn't know what to connect until Sarah, Jack and Mia got there, they were on the hill where Hailey was buried. "Dex, do you copy?" Dex pulled his radio out and said, "Sarah?!" Sarah looked at the building and said, "what are we gonna do?" Dex remembered that he liked how quick she was a picking things up, "I have to connect these wires if this'll work, taking this herd out will mean you all live and others don't have to die, you can't convince me to leave, just tell me what to connect." Mia looked at the building as she took the radio, "shit kid, why is it that right after seeing you again I gotta lose you… Connect the wires to their own color, red to red, green to green, just like that, after you'll need to connect all wires to the small box there, that box will only give you a few seconds before…" Dex was already hard at work on the wires.

Jack took the radio and took a deep breath, "shit didn't we just get out of this place barely alive after an explosion?" Dex chuckled inside as he was connecting wires, "except this time there is no walking out of it… I need you all to hear this, I'm about to finish up here, I want you all to hear this… Sarah, take care of Kate please, she won't understand any of this, I need you to stay strong, keep leading, I'm sad I won't get to see both kids grow up but I know they are in good hands." Sarah began to cry, she felt lost she knew she couldn't do anything to help but she wanted to. "Jack… Keep teaching these people to survive, make them into leaders in this new world…" Jack nodded as Mia looked at the radio, "and Mia… You are the reason I am here today, I'm sad not everyone ended up making it but I'll be sure to let them know you miss them when I see them…" Mia broke down as she fell down to her knees.

Dex looked at his watch and thought of Mel, he saw the necklace in his pocket and remembered the day Mia gave it to him to make him feel safe. Dex looked over at the spot where he and Hailey sat when the building blew up, he sat against the wall and took a deep breath. "This is it… It's been a hell of an adventure, I mean shit we went from not knowing eachother to family fast, we traveled across the country together, we… I'm gonna always be with you all no matter what okay? I'm gonna always be with you… It's time for me to return home, see the others, Mel… Jim, Jenna… Will, James… Everyone we lost… I've accepted this, I can't wait to see you all again after you've lived long, great lives…" Sarah broke down into tears as the place went up in flames, multiple bombs went off, Sarah felt the heat hit her as she fell to her knees slowly, Sarah watched as the entire science building collapsed, she cried until she couldn't anymore as she looked up, she had flashes of memories coming in from their travels, Sarah closed her eyes and felt the tears fall as she remembered her best memory with Dex.

they sat on lawn chairs on the roof of the police station, they looked at the smoke off in the distance. "Since our fun little run together is nearing its end, where do you think you'll end up after all of this?" Sarah says after taking a sip of her water, Dex looked at the few walker stragglers and said to her, "Honestly I don't know, guess I'll go wherever the road takes me, I was once with this group that lived in this buffed out van, they were the closest thing to family for the first 2 years… Same thing happened to them that happens to everyone… But I kinda miss that on the move lifestyle, I think I'll head out West." Sarah looks at her bottle for a bit and says, "I think when I am back with Will, we'll travel somewhere away from all of this and get away from all of this stuff, maybe go somewhere peaceful and quiet and live out life without the loss we have dealt with." Dex looked off at the smoke and said to her, "Good luck with that Sarah, you deserve a happy ending after all that's happened." Sarah looks at him and says calmly, "Ya know it doesn't just have to be us, there's always room for you, I've grown to like you a bit more and you are the person I trust the most right now, you are the closest thing to family right now, I don't think I can lose that." Dex looked down as Sarah reached over and grabbed his hand. Dex looked at Sarah with a faint smile, this was the moment their bond was formed.

Sarah opened her eyes slowly to see the fire settling in the remains of the place, Jack was staring in shock as Mia slowly walked away, it was too much for her to handle, the herd was being burnt up, the sounds of the dead slowly vanished as the sound of fire and silence filled the air.